Doting on DS & DDThread Starter

I'm experiencing some breastfeeding difficulties and have been giving my newborn expressed milk only. I'm working with a lactation consultant to try and get my little guy to latch on but he seems to grow tired quickly and just doesn't want to suck. I don't want to lose hope, but in the event that he will only take expressed milk - I want to be prepared.

Currently, I'm renting the hospital grade Medela Classic pump and wondered if any of you ladies out there had experiences with both hospital grade and personal use pumps? I'm planning on giving him breast milk for at least a year and wasn't sure if I should keep renting for the duration or if a personal use pump would suffice (thinking of the Medela Pump in Style or Freestyle in particular)?

.

I rented a hospital grade pump with one child and used a home pump with another, and I would go hospital grade all the way. Having a reliable double pump was crucial for me, and none of the home double pumps worked as well as the hospital grade one. Additionally, there is much finer tuning available on pause and suction strength on a hospital grade machine. I didn't have to use stronger suction or experience any pain with a hospital grade pump that I did with the home one.

Maybe home models have improved since I used them, but I very much preferred my hospital rental!

22 countries...

BurberryLvr - Hospital grade breast pump is definitely better than personal home electric pump. Initially, I bought the Medela Mini Electric pump but was disappointed. Then I rented hospital grade Egnell breast pump. The result is just amazing....

Doting on DS & DDThread Starter

BurberryLvr - Hospital grade breast pump is definitely better than personal home electric pump. Initially, I bought the Medela Mini Electric pump but was disappointed. Then I rented hospital grade Egnell breast pump. The result is just amazing....

Click to expand...

Nvie - Did you get a better amount of breast milk expressed? I have a hand pump that came with the hospital grade kit and I get more or less the same amount - it's just that the electric is much more convenient and definitely less tiring to use!

Shopportunist

I also have the PIS Advanced and it works really well! I evaluated the cost of renting for who knows how many months versus plunking down $400 right off the bat and having no more worries about ending up paying more if I pump for more than 5 months...so it was worth it for me.

Member

The PIS Advance is pricey, but I actually sold it for $150 after using it for 2 years! I bought replacement hoses and cups before I put it on Craigslist, so you will recoup some of the money. It is the best one I tried and that includes the hospital grade Medela as well.

Loves the Lindy!

I also pumped exclusively, and I tried both. For me, the PIS Advanced didn't work nearly as well as the Symphony rental. I started with the PIS Advanced, and I wish I'd started with the Symphony. When I switched, it literally doubled my production. It was still too low, but it went up by 8+ oz per day just by switching pumps. I was using the same set of breast shields, tubing, etc., so that couldn't have been a factor. And my PIS was brand spanking new, so it's not like the motor was worn down.

My lactation consultant did say that the two are supposed to be the same, so supposedly this should not have worked out this way. However, there was clearly a huge difference between the two for me. I ended up renting a Symphony for 7+ months (at $75 per month - ouch! Should have just bought one.)

Are you seeing an LC? If so, she may have both for you to try them out. That's how I tried the Symphony before I rented.

22 countries...

Nvie - Did you get a better amount of breast milk expressed? I have a hand pump that came with the hospital grade kit and I get more or less the same amount - it's just that the electric is much more convenient and definitely less tiring to use!

Click to expand...

The hospital grade Egnell breast pump is more comfortable and yes, I get more amount of milk compared to the mini electric Medela pump. It's because there is a suck and release motion compared to the mini electric, which is just sucking. I am able to express 2oz per session and trying to increase to more. But baby Cayden is not keen to finish 2 oz, there's always some leftover.

2 Boys Bags & a Bike

I actually bought a hospital grade pump once i went home from the hospital, the Medela Lactina Select pump, my boobs were always rock hard all the time once my milk came in. And this pump worked wonders, it drained my boobs really easily. But I eventually switched to the Medela swing one my supply settled, as i found that the Lactina was way too harsh on my nipples and the Medela swing pretty much the the job. So maybe you could look at renting the hospital grade one first before you decide to buy it just to see how things go once you milk supply settles down?

The other thing as well is that i also had a lot of trouble with getting my son to latch on properly, all the nurses at the hospital just kept telling me to persevere and i actually ended up getting rather pissed off when i eventually found out why my son couldn't latch on properly and never would be able to anyway. It turned out that he had a short frenulum whi prevented him from moving his tongue around or even getting a mouth full of boob to allow him to latch on properly, so feeding for him was pretty exhausting and he would just fall asleep while feeding all the time. Luckily his short frenulum has now relaxed and he is perfectly fine. YOu can find a bit more info here if you wish